CARDIFF OPEN AIR THEATRE FESTIVAL 2018 Sophia Gardens Cathedral Road Cardiff CF11 9SQ AUDITION NOTICE Director Peter (Don’t Panic) Doran The Play Dad’s Army was of course one of the most popular sit-com’s every made and is still thought to be the Nations favourite TV Comedy. People tend to forget that it was also a very popular radio comedy. The original cast did take part in a stage show but it took the form of a review with songs and sketches. A full-scale stage comedy drama was a more recent addition. The version we are doing is a staging of three of the classic episodes: Sgt. Wilson’s Little Secret During the typically absurdly improvised lecture on camouflage and tactics inventions contest, Sergeant Wilson is unusually absentminded. He admits to Captain Mainwaring to be gravely preoccupied by the assumption that Frank Pike's overprotective, domineering mother is expecting a child. In fact he only misunderstood a conversation he overheard Mrs. Pike was having with Frank about her taking on an evacuee, but Wilson fears it's his baby. Mainwaring pushes Wilson to 'do the right thing' and even trains the platoon as wedding guard of honour. The Godiva Affair Jones confides in Capt. Mainwaring regarding a serious problem concerning Mrs. Fox; he believes she's cheating on him with the town clerk and wants Mainwaring to try and find out if his suspicions are justified. Meanwhile the platoon is rehearsing a Morris Dance for a local carnival. At the same time, Hodges, the Verger and the Vicar are trying to audition young ladies for the part of Lady Godiva in the carnival but a late casting change puts Mainwaring in a state of shock. The Deadly Attachment After a surreal lecture on telling allied parachutists from German ones, the platoon is ordered to pick up a stranded U-boot's crew. Wilson feels that the live hand-grenades stored in the office are too dangerous for his hot-headed mates and acts accordingly. As HQ's armed escort is late, the German prisoners will have to stay overnight in the church hall. The U-boat captain plays mind-games by drafting a reckoning 'list', before obtaining one of the said grenades and putting it down Jones’s trousers with a piece of string attached to the pin; he then leads the platoon through the town in order to escape. The Main Characters Captain Mainwaring George Mainwaring was born in 1885. During the First War he was denied active service due to poor eyesight, but was accepted into the Pioneer Corps serving in France during 1918. Little was known of his private life. He is a pompous, blustering figure with overdeveloped sense of his importance, fueled by his social status in Walmington-on-Sea as the bank manager, and his status as Captain and commander of the local Home Guard volunteer unit. He believes in following rules and orders to sometimes ludicrous degrees. He is class conscious and a snob, considering himself upper-middle class and looking down on anyone he considers beneath him, which may be because he struggled to rise above his working-class background. His pretensions stand in contrast to Wilson who is genuinely Upper Middle Class, Mainwaring is often bitter about Wilson's having attended public school, believing it made him 'wet', while his own state- school background is an attribute. Pompous, short, rotund, bald, well spoken. Sergeant Wilson Arthur Wilson was born in 1887, two years after his senior in the bank and the Home Guard, George Mainwaring. He has an upper- middle-class background; his father had a career in the City of London, and Wilson often recalls fond memories of his nanny. He was educated at a public school named Meadow Bridge. He is chief cashier of Walmington-on-Sea bank, and captain of the cricket club. Captain Mainwaring, compared Wilson with Peter Pan, because he could never face responsibilities. These included Private Frank Pike who worships his "Uncle Arthur" but may be Wilson's son — Wilson has a relationship with Mavis Pike, Frank's mother. It is gossip in as both arrived in Walmington from Weston-super-Mare around the same time, and there are other 'coincidences' that show Wilson and Mrs Pike are more than "just close friends". It is assumed their affair began many years ago. Wilson is married but his wife left him. He has a daughter from his marriage. Tall, Slim, Grey Haired, Attractive, very well spoken. Corporal Jones Jones was born in 1870 in Walmington-on-Sea, and he joined the army as a drummer boy in 1884 at the age of fourteen. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Jones was retired from the army and working as a butcher, but he was so keen to join the Home Guard that, despite his age (70), Captain Mainwaring instantly appointed him as the platoon's Lance Corporal. However, it is suggested that Jones' ability to provide off-the-ration meat may have had rather more to do with this decision than Jones' abilities Jones is known for a number of eccentric traits, such as using long, rambling explanations and anecdotes whenever he wants to make a point (which could usually be summed up in a sentence anyway). He is also invariably one step behind the rest of the platoon in any drill manoeuvre. Despite his advanced years and physical failings, Jones is extremely excitable and active. Apart from killing Nazis he has only one ambition in life - to marry Mrs Fox. On the frail side, thin, white haired, nimble. Private Frazer Every town has a purveyor of doom and gloom. Everything, according to him, will turn into a disaster. James Frazer could almost be right in thinking this way when he joined the Home Guard. As the local undertaker, it is inevitable that he would see the war through different eyes. A war would bring about an increase in business after all! It is a little-known fact that he also ran the local philatelist shop on the sea front, which he opened during the summer months. During the quieter months he indulged in his other hobby of hand making coffins. It was not always this way. He spent his youth on the wild and lonely Isle of Barra off the west coast of Scotland. It was a hard life. Being so close to the sea, he would eventually serve in the Royal Navy, reaching the position of Chief Petty Officer. Like Jack Jones, James Frazer also has a wealth of stories to tell, albeit of a different nature. His were of adventure in exotic lands, strange and supernatural happenings. Scottish, Tall, thin, white haired. Private Walker If you need anything from whiskey to knicker elastic, watches or even weapons, Joe Walker will get them for you. "Mind you, as its war- time it will cost you, 'cos you can't get 'em". Joe is a typical cockney spiv, making his way through life ducking and diving, trying to avoid the law. Moving down to the south coast from his native Plaistow in east London to avoid call up, he was registered as having a reserved occupation (a banana salesman, as he once said) until the authorities eventually caught up with him. Luckily for him, he was allergic to corned beef, which invalided him out of the army, only to return to serve the needs of the local community. Walker very rarely dealt with money, relying on the bartering system to do business, and occasionally using his skills to do a little work for charity. One of the cleverest in the platoon, others turned to him for inspiration in a tricky situation. Cockney, early 40’s, Tall, Handsome. Private Godfrey He was born in 1870 or 1871, and is not actually the oldest member of the platoon, with Corporal Jones being one year his senior. Godfrey is gentle, mild-mannered and kindly - though more complex than is evident - old man. He is the only member of the platoon that has retired. He was a conscientious objector in the Great War, a revelation that initially makes him an outsider. However, after saving Mainwaring's life, his sister reveals that, far from avoiding service, he in fact served with distinction as a stretcher bearer with the Royal Army Medical Corps, and heroically saved several men's lives during the Battle of the Somme He lives in the picturesque Cherry Tree Cottage with his hard-of-hearing sisters, Dolly and Cissy, whom he is clearly very fond of and often brings them up in conversation. When there is any need for provisions, his sister Dolly often provides upside-down cakes. They also have a pet parrot called Percy. He served for 35 years in the Army department of the Civil Service Stores as a tailor A drawback of his old age is his weak bladder, which lets him down and postpones all platoon activity, hence his catchphrase, "Do you think I might be excused?", and his tendency to fall asleep can be similarly categorized; "I must have dozed off!" Old, White haired, slow, overweight, well spoken. Private Pike By far the youngest member of the newly formed platoon at 17, Frank was too young to enlist in the services, but jumped at the change of belonging to the Home Guard, much to his mother's displeasure. For some reason this displeasure spread to Arthur Wilson, or Uncle Arthur, as Frank would usually address him. Frank regarded the Home Guard as an extension of the scouting movement, of which he was a keen member, and at times acted as if war was a bit of a game.